


Children of war

by Lara140112



Series: Redemption [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Post-War, Redemption, Trials
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-04 11:23:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17303717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lara140112/pseuds/Lara140112
Summary: At Draco Malfoy's trial, a very unexpected spectator stands up to give a most surprising speech for the defence.





	1. The trial - 1

He was wearing Muggle clothes, simple jeans and a hoody that covered his head and shielded his face. People probably thought him terribly disrespectful, wearing clothes like that in a courtroom. But he didn’t want any attention, didn’t want to cause a stir or at least not unless necessary. He felt a hand brush against his arm and giving him a quick squeeze. Of course they hadn’t let him go here by himself, so Hermione sat next to him unnoticed by anyone else as the strong glamour prevented even the slightest resemblance to the bright witch that would have gotten nearly as much attention as he himself at this trial. Suddenly the murmur around the room quieted as the Wizengamot entered and just moments later the doors opened. Draco Malfoy, bound in chains, was escorted into the courtroom by two Aurors that Harry didn’t recognize. The blonde was wearing elegant black trousers and a jumper in the same colour, but his outfit was worn and filthy. He looked like he hadn’t changed in days if not weeks. His hair was longer than usual and unkempt. Blonde strays covered his face as his eyes never left the floor. Harry could feel the gloating around the room as the shackles bound the young man to the chair in the middle of the room and he felt his rage surfacing already. Willing himself to be patient he focussed on the speaker of the Wizengamot.

“Draco Malfoy, you are brought before this institution to be tried for your crimes. Your are accused of bearing the Dark Mark and following the wizard Tom Riddle also known as Lord Voldemort. You’re furthermore charged with the attempted murder of Albus Dumbledore and complicity in the former by granting entrance to Hogwarts Castle to known Death Eaters. Lastly you are accused of the use of the Unforgivables. How do you plead?”  
Draco hadn’t looked up once, but now his head slowly came up and from where Harry sat, it looked like he was staring at the Wizengamot in disbelief. Silence echoed in the courtroom and after a moment the leading judge became impatient: “Boy, how do you plead? We don’t have all day. You refuse to speak we shall just note you pleaded guilty”

Next to him Hermione let out a snarl and he understood her feeling. There was no defendant for the accused and now they took Draco’s unwillingness or possible inability to speak as an admittance of guilt. He was so close to stand up, but suddenly Draco seemed to have snapped back to his surroundings and spoke in a raspy voice:  
“Guilty.”

So the sighting of evidence began, but it was obvious to Harry that the outcome of this trial had been set long before. Just before the speaker could announce that they would give verdict on the case, Harry shared a quick look with Hermione who gave him a reassuring nod. Standing up he pushed his hood back and spoke up:  
“I want to give testimony for the defence.”

Immediately heads turned his way and the shock on everybody’s face was evident.

“Mr. Potter, didn’t know you were here, but that is ... that is very uncommon. I am sure the Wizengamot would come to a satisfactory decision without...”

“Seeing the nature of this trial so far, I really doubt that Sir. Are you going to deny Mr. Malfoy the right to a defence?” Harry challenged and he knew very well that the man was not concerned about Malfoy. However, he would be concerned about his public face and as much as Harry hated pulling his fame in this case it was the right thing to do. As expected the head of the Wizengamot session quickly relented.

“No, no of course not Mr. Potter, if you please would come down to give your testimony.”

As the crowd parted to let him through Harry ignored the murmuring around him and focussed all his thoughts on what he wanted to say calling up all the anger and frustration he felt with the people in this room if not this institution. Arriving next to the young man his age, bound on a chair that he once occupied, Harry shared a quick look with a shocked an puzzled Draco Malfoy. Then he turned to address the Wizengamot and audience.

“Draco Malfoy is a victim of war. He is a victim of war like myself, like every other young witch and wizard of my generation. We were wronged by the world around us and now you are wronging him once more by making him a scapegoat for all the mistakes you have made.” Harry spoke in a cold voice, but his words were heated and the outbreak around him was murderous.

“Silence, silence or I shall remove you from this court” the threat silenced the crowd and the Head of the Wizengamot motioned for him to continue although his looks were far from friendly.

“All of you are so ready to convict Draco Malfoy, you do not care about him or what he has done. You see him and you see his father or maybe you see him and you see the mark on his arm. But let me ask you, what would you have done in his stead? I ask you, what would you have done if Voldemort demanded your loyalty on threat of not just your life but the life of your family? I knew Malfoy was a Death Eater in his sixth year, it was as clear as water to me, but no one wanted to see it. No one wanted to take responsibility. So a boy, charged with a suicide mission that he has to complete while his mother is held hostage in her own home, figures out a way to let Death Eaters into the castle which leads to the death of Albus Dumbledore. He is guilty of that, I do not deny it, but I doubt he wanted the headmaster dead. Maybe if you had given him the opportunity to speak, you would understand. Maybe he would have told you how his sixth year was living hell, being torn up with worry about his mother and panicked about a future he held no control over. Maybe he would have told you how in his seventh year Voldemort still occupied his house, how witnessing torture and murder made him slowly fall apart. Maybe he would even have told you that the night I was brought to Malfoy Manor, he wouldn’t identify me, wouldn’t give me up because he knew what that would have meant.  
Instead you are ready to convict him, make him the scapegoat of this war. Because you have learnt nothing. You are looking for revenge when in fact you are just as guilty. Those of you that ignored the signs that Voldemort was back, you have helped him gain power. Those of you who stayed safe and didn’t fight, you have blood on your hands because your inaction killed those brave enough to fight. Those of you who put their hope in me, who thought a 17-year old could save the world, you let children fight your war. And so they did, and they did what was necessary to survive. Draco Malfoy took the Dark mark and went on a suicide mission because it seemed the only possible way. Indoctrinated from birth by a man that was a known Death Eater he knew nothing else. I used the imperious curse because I knew no way further, Hermione Granger illegally oblivated her parents so they would be safe, students at Hogwarts tortured their fellow students for fear of being tortured themselves. The same students fought the last battle with a few brave adults that your society has left. You took our innocence and you took our youth, as far as I am concerned not one of you can pass judgement. We are your creation. You pass judgement on Draco Malfoy, you have to pass judgement on all of us. But remember, you taught us how to fight, you taught us war and we have fought it. We are no children anymore, we are not innocent, but we are overall survivors.”


	2. Trial - 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At Draco Malfoy's trial, a very unexpected spectator stands up to give a most surprising speech for the defence.

Draco Malfoy had not been surprised when he had been dragged out of his cell, forced into heavy chains and escorted to a courtroom deep down in the Ministry. He had been waiting for it since the day he had been arrested. This, or a one-way ticket to Azkaban. To be honest he couldn't bring himself to care. 

Since the last battle he had existed without being properly alive. He hadn't been allowed to shower or change for weeks, but it didn't bother him. He got food, which he ate, but never tasted. He got taunted, spit at and occasionally kicked or hexed by the guards, but they got no raise out of him. So when the chains of the chair they placed him in clicked shut, he faced the Wizengamot feeling equally numb and collected facing what was to come. He heard the judge announcing the charges.

'Attempted murder of Albus Dumbledore.'

He couldn't remember what and if he had had breakfast, but he suddenly felt compelled to empty his stomach. The face of his former headmaster was clear in his mind, disarmed and vulnerable, yet never afraid. He thought about that short moment when he had believed there may be a way out, only to find his life totally spiralling out of control moments later. He wanted to close his eyes, but knew he would only see the dead body falling from the Astronomy Tower.

He was abruptly called out of his thoughts by the sharp voice of the judge.

"How do you plead?"

Trying to process the question, he slowly raised his head, but couldn't form the words to answer.

'Plead? What was there to plead? '

They knew the facts and he wasn't naive enough to think that anything he would say would change the verdict that had most likely been set in stone before anyone had entered the courtroom today. 

'Victor's justice.' He thought bitterly and yet knew that had the other side won, there would have been no trials, no holding cells. Just torture and death.

"Boy, how do you plead? We don’t have all day. You refuse to speak we shall just note you pleaded guilty.”

At the sharp words Draco snapped back to attention. He forced himself to speak, but his voice was raspy from the long time out of use.

"Guilty." He spoke out with as little emotion as he could manage.

He would not give them the satisfaction of making excuses or giving explanations. He didn't expect their mercy or even their unbiased judgement. They wanted revenge and he would give them no further satisfaction. The next twenty minutes passed with the sighting of evidence, reading of witness accounts and everything else that was needed to make this look like a fair and just trial. 

'Of course for a fair trial there should be a defence.' Draco thought to himself as he surveyed the Wizengamot in front of him. He knew they were coming to an end and despite all he couldn't help but feel somewhat anxious now. Rationally he knew that there was no hope for him. He was on trial for casting an Unforgivable, which was a life-time sentence in Azkaban anyway. Together with everything else, he would never be free again and had accepted that long ago. 

Yet his heart now quickened maybe in an attempt to use as many breaths as possible before the eternal condemnation. He knew that the death penalty along with the Dementor's Kiss had been outlawed right after the war and he felt grateful for it even if a life in Azkaban was not exactly a silver lining.   
During the war his mind and body had been on auto-pilot set on survival, but now he questioned why he had bothered. What was there to be gained from survival? The last year had proved to him that a life under Voldemort and his cronies was not one he considered worth living and survival on the loser's side would mean his lifelong imprisonment at the very least. Would death not have been preferable? A quick end to his now senseless, meaningless life. Why did the idea of survival still give him relief, was there after all a glimmer of hope in the back of his mind?

'No.' he thought to himself. 'He would need a miracle or maybe in 30 years he'd get lucky and get a pardon.' His mind only came back to the trial around him as a loud voice echoed through the courtroom from the stands.

" I want to give testimony for the defence.”

Suddenly the numbness of his brain was gone as he tried to identify the voice that seemed strangely familiar. And then everything totally spiralled out of the realm of his imagination. If it had not been for his own perplex, he would have laughed at the comic reaction the Wizengamot delivered as Harry Potter made his way down to the floor and now stood next to him launching into a speech.

Draco couldn't believe his ears, Harry Potter was speaking in his defence. Using the power of his name not to account for Draco's crimes, but accuse the Wizengamot of this farce trial. The boy who for seven years had been his nemesis now argued on his behalf and if Draco was honest with himself, painted a picture of him that was a lot higher than his own estimate.  
At the end of Potter's speech Draco felt a glimmer of hope in his stomach, but forced himself to squash it. Though Potter had spoken in his favour, offered mitigation for his crimes, it didn't erase what he had done. And even then Potter's name only carried so far. These people were out for revenge and revenge they would get.   
However, as the Wizengamot adjoined the session to produce a verdict and he was let into a cell next to the court room, he noticed that the two Aurors were less rough than before. As he was brought back in, the atmosphere in the room seemed just that little bit less hostile. And Potter, who had taken a seat at the desk for the defence gave him a weak smile. He didn't understand it, had no idea why Potter would care what happened to him. But maybe, just maybe there was hope after all.


	3. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We do not always get what we deserve, but when Draco is offered a second chance will he have the strength to accept it.

Draco Malfoy was sitting in a small cell. The same cell he had occupied before his trial three days ago, but now the room spotted a bed with clean bedding, a table and chair where he was provided with three meals a day. He himself had been allowed to shower and was no longer wearing his own clothes. Instead he was dressed in a clean set of comfortable robes, prison robes, but still he couldn't deny it was an improvement to his own soiled clothes.

  
"Malfoy, you have a visitor." The Auror on guard informed him swishing his wand to open the gate to his cell.

  
He stood up immediately, straight back and head looking up at the opening gate. He didn't know who this visitor was, but he would meet him face on. Just as he had gotten to his feet, he saw Potter enter the cell exchanging a quick word with the Auror before handing over his wand and watching the cell door close behind him.

  
Then suddenly their eyes met and Draco wasn't sure who was more uncomfortable. He was aware of how much he owed Potter. He owed his life to Gryffindor's Golden Boy in more than one way and despite feeling thankful for it deep down in his heart, he also loathed it. Loathed owing anything to anyone, hated not being in control and despised the urge to thank him. He did it anyway, more concerned about breaking the engulfing silence and hanging on to what little control he had.

  
"Thank you." He pressed out quietly, startling Potter who had started to fidget a few feet away from him.

"Huh?"  
Eloquent as ever, Draco thought, but he didn't have the will to make a snarling comment.

  
"Thank you. For everything you did for me. I know had the roles been reversed, I..."

  
"Don't!" Harry interrupted sharply. "I don't want to hear it. I did what I did, because it was the right thing to do. I meant what I said at the trial, you don't deserve Azkaban and you certainly didn't deserve to die. Whether you would have done the same is irrelevant to me."

  
"Why? Why do you care what happens to me?" Draco blurted out, his curiosity winning for just a second.

  
Potter sighed, ran his hand through his already messy hair and then crossed the cell in a few strides to collapse into the single chair in the room.

  
"I don't like their victor's justice. I don't care for swapping one set of prejudices for a new one and I hate all those cowards, who wouldn't fight but now cry loudest for justice and vengeance. I also can't forget the way your whole body was shaking in the bathroom at Hogwarts, how you looked like a trapped, scared animal that night on the Astronomy Tower or the reluctance in your actions at your home mere months ago. I'm not saying you're a good Samaritan, I'm not even sure you are a good person, but you were thrown into a world without any choice. I know how that feels and I didn't like it one bit. So, I want you to have a choice. Fuck this up and I will sleep like baby as you rot in Azkaban."

  
Draco nodded and swallowed hard. It felt better knowing that Potter hadn't just been acting out of pity.

  
Meanwhile Harry had gone back to fidgeting and as he spoke now it was awkward rather than self-assertive as it had been mere minutes ago.

  
"Look Draco, I didn't come here for thank you's or confessions. I came, because I do care what happens to you and I don't think you deserve Azkaban."

  
"The Wizengamot disagrees with you." Draco answered and added muttering: "and I'm not sure I don't either."

  
"What?" Harry questions in return and Draco sits on the bed facing the other boy.

  
"You said it yourself, I'm no good Samaritan. I have done some terrible things, I made the wrong choices. This isn't a beauty accessory, Potter. Why should I not deserve Azkaban?"

  
Draco had pulled up the sleeve of his prison rope and exposed the Dark Mark to Potter, who was totally unfazed by it.

  
"Your father was a Death Eater, you were raised..."

  
"I'm not dumb Potter, neither am I a mind-less puppet. I had a choice - granted it was drastic one, but a choice, nonetheless. There's a reason Nott disappeared after sixth year. He was to be marked over the summer, but he ran. His father paid the price for it. I saw him being tortured for hours until he would lose consciousness. They would wake him up again just to start anew. The Greengrasses disappeared altogether - one of the very few Slytherin pureblood families to stay truly neutral. Their house got burned down to the ground, they slaughtered their house-elf's brutally. So don't tell me there wasn't choice, there's always choice and I made mine. I believed I was superior to Muggles and Muggleborns. I thought being pureblood made me like royalty. I wanted to protect myself, protect my mother. Our safety was more important to me than the life of others."

  
"Believed?" Potter questions with a raised eyebrow.

  
"You don't seriously think I still believe that bullshit do you? I started doubting it years ago. Granger was top of the class in every subject and there isn't an ounce of magic in her parents. I don't understand Muggles and frankly I don't want to. I don't feel the need to and I want to protect wizarding traditions, but not like that. Not by killing, torturing and discriminating people."

  
"Hmm ... so you want to go to Azkaban?"

  
"I wouldn't phrase it like that Potter. I think I may deserve Azkaban and I am grateful it is for a limited period and that my mother will not suffer the same fate."

  
"And your father?"

  
"I've made my decisions and he made his. We both have to live with the consequences."

  
"We can try for an appeal. I mean if you want, I would support you."

  
Draco shook his head. An appeal would take time and mean more time in holding. Plus Potter had bargained his probable life-sentence down to a few months. There was no way he would be able to strike a better deal and despite his feeling that he deserved Azkaban, he wasn't keen on chancing a new sentence and extended trip to the god-forsaken island.

  
"No, definitely not. I appreciate what you are trying to do, but really you have done enough."

  
Potter looked like he wanted to answer something, but Draco spoke again before he could get a word out.

  
"I've had a visitor this morning. I'm not going to Azkaban. After your speech at court yesterday, the Minister has ordered that so called underage offenders are not to spent their sentence at Azkaban. I was 16 when I took the Dark Mark, so the case worker who came this morning said that Azkaban was out of the question."

  
He relayed the information without emotion. It had been a shock to hear the new verdict this morning and it still felt too good to be true. Still, the women had shown him officially signed papers and she hadn't seemed like the type to make cruel jokes. He noticed that Potter looked at him with a questioning expression on his face.

  
"So, what does that mean? I wasn't aware there was another prison?"

  
Draco shook his head. "There isn't. They are talking about changing part of the holding cells. It will be a lot better than Azkaban."

  
"It's still prison."

  
"Yes, but honestly Potter don't you want to see me suffer a bit? Get back to me for all the things I did to you, all the names I called Granger and Weasley? Because that's what all the people out there want. And they have much less of a reason than you do. If I walk free tomorrow, there's nowhere for me to go. My mother is under house arrest at the Manor and cannot receive any guests, our assets have been frozen and will be used to pay large sums of compensation. I have not finished my NEWTS and I cannot see very many people willing to give me a job. Prison, especially one that isn't Azkaban, may not be my worst option Potter. My case worker even wants me to be able to take my exams during the year - of course the theoretical part only."

  
There was silence between them for a few moments and Draco wondered if he should get the guard to collect Potter. He was thankful to the other boy. He owed him, but he still started to annoy him. Just as the silence started to grow uncomfortable, Harry muttered: "Fine. But it's not fair. It just isn't"

  
"Life isn't fair Potter. You of all people should know that. Please don't make me your next people saving project. I don't want it. I don't need it. I'll be fine."  
Draco hated how weak the last statement sounded, but he hoped it would get Potter of his back. He didn't want to owe him anymore than he already did.  
And indeed Harry rose from his chair and turned to leave.

  
"Okay then. I respect that. As I said, I want you to have a choice. Just, please know that you don't owe me anything. There's no debt to be paid."  
Draco nodded in response and Potter signalled for the guard to come. He was handed back his wand, which Draco noticed was Potter's own wand not the wand he himself had lost to the other wizard. A second later both figures had disappeared from the cell and he was alone once more.

...

Loneliness was a constant over the next ten months in Draco's life. Potter hadn't come back and he had had few other visitors. His mother had been allowed to visit three times and his case worker dropped in at least once a month, but other than that his only human interaction had been with the by now familiar group of guards. But he did not mind it as much as he would have thought. It was loneliness rather than boredom he had to endure as he was allowed books among his limited possessions. He had been studying for the NEWTS exams trying to take as many subjects as possible, well aware that work would be hard to come by once he was released. He had also been forced to take on Muggle Studies, which he had anticipated to be a chore, but had turned out to be at least somewhat intriguing. He found himself questioning the Muggleborn case-worker about the holes in his reading, which seemed to please her. It would also come in handy should he have to resort to the Muggle world for employment.

  
He sighed in anticipation. Desperate times called for desperate measures indeed.

  
It was now a week before his official release and his mother had written yesterday to say that staying with her was unfortunately not an option, which meant that Draco would have no roof over his head in seven days time.

  
"Letter for you Malfoy - with a confiscated item."

  
Draco's eyes immediately snapped to the guard in alarm, but he needn't have worried. The Auror on duty was one of the nicer ones, not just cordial with him, but seemed to feel sorry for the young wizard more than he believed him evil.  
He handed over the open letter apologetically.

  
"I'm sorry I had to open and read it. It's procedure. You will get the wand with your release papers."

  
'A wand?' Draco wondered and quickly studied the letter.

_Dear Draco,_   
_I hope you are faring well, or as well as one can be in your situation. As you have not made contact since we last saw each other, I assume you are still refusing further help from me and are as you said 'fine'._   
_I know your release is coming up shortly and with that in mind I cannot honour your wish. You asked me once why I cared what happened to you and I told you my reasons._   
_I am doing this not out of pity or a 'people-saving-complex', but because it's the right thing to do. You may know that my godfather Sirius Black made me his sole heir before his untimely death. Sirius' brother was a Death Eater, he joined young and regretted it before long. He was killed trying to stop Voldemort. I know that Sirius always felt responsible for him. Well, as the Head of the Black Family, I feel responsible for you._   
_I have set up a trust fund in your name at Gringotts, it should keep you going at the beginning. There's also a letter stored there with the address and keys for a London flat. You can live there for as long as you like, it apparently was the Bachelor pad of your Great Uncle Alphard._   
_Lastly, there are two companies that the Black family has major investments in. They both have offices abroad that have open vacancies. I attached the mail info, they know to expect your owl._   
_As I said, I want to give you a choice. Take it or leave it._   
_Harry Potter_   
_Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Black_   
_PS: I have enclosed your wand. It wasn't mine to keep though I am not sure it will still work for you._

When Draco had finished the letter he placed it carefully on the table and then stepped away from it as if he needed to create a safe space between himself and the contents of the letter.

  
'Cunning.' He mused silently. Potter must have known that he would not accept a hand-out from him.

  
No - had he offered him money, a job or anything else, he would have politely declined. After all he had no desire to increase the debt he already owed. Self-preservation may be a Slytherin trait, but Draco had always found that self-respect was just as important to him.  
The offer Potter had sent though was a different matter. He had almost forgotten that the younger boy had inherited the Black fortune and thus became head of the family. Granted, the head of a near-extinct family. The only living members, as far as he knew, were his mother and her outcast sister. Draco had never considered himself a part of the Black family, even though he once had been in line to the family fortune. He was after all first and foremost the heir to the Malfoy line. Now however, as the family fortune was gone and so was his father's political influence, there was little reason to refuse sanctuary in the House of Black.

  
For three days the letter lay untouched in the same spot Draco had put it down the first day. He had argued back and forth if he could, nay if he should accept Potter's help. He had no doubt that Gryffindor's Golden Boy did not expect repayment of his kindness. Draco was wary yes, but he also believed Potter stupidly noble and that made him certain that the deal came with no strings attached. But of course just because Potter didn't have expectations, it didn't mean there wouldn't be an obligation from his side. Accepting his help would mean acknowledging Potter's role as head of the Black family, and consequently his place in that family. It was a move with no return.

  
His father would have torn up the letter the minute he had read it, but Draco didn't want to do things anymore because his father would approve. It was what had landed him in this debacle after all.

  
He made up his mind that second, stood up and hastily scrabbled his response to Potter.

  
_I accept._  
 _You have my deepest thanks._  
 _Draco Malfoy_  
 _Son of the House of Black_

A pact with the devil - that's what it felt like as he folded the paper and handed it to the guard for postage. And yet Potter had been his ticket to freedom and now he had offered him a future as well - or at least a chance at a positive future. A chance Draco was determined to use. It wouldn't be easy, he knew that much, but anything had to be better than a life in Azkaban and anything was better than the hell of a life he had had before.

  
The words Potter had spoken at his trial came back to him.

  
"We are not children anymore, but we are survivors."

  
Yes - survivors. He had survived his worst nightmare, lived through hell and came back. He owed it to his mother, the people he saw die, to Potter to built up a life from the shambles it was in.

  
He owed it to himself to live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. I'm always grateful for feedback. I also plan to post more in this universe.


End file.
